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Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#31

Post by tpmx »

Seems very well executed. Congrats!

When I last had a need for something like this confidentiality was a major concern (it was at a small-ish but publicly traded company). Not quite at the level of needing signed contracts, but at the same time something more than a random web service someone unnamed threw together would be required.

I notice that you haven't put your names and backgrounds on the site - that would help in building credibility. Demonstrating the YC backing would also help.

Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#32

Post by narenkmano »

TimCTRL wrote: post #30

This is really excellent. A quick one, is there a plan for us to select a particular android device? This would be particularly useful for debugging apps. Unlike in the IOS world, the Android market is so saturated with devices, you may not know how your app (camera feature for example) will behave on a Tecno phone.

Yes, we plan to support different devices and API levels soon.

Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#33

Post by rock_artist »

TimCTRL wrote: post #30

This is really excellent. A quick one, is there a plan for us to select a particular android device? This would be particularly useful for debugging apps. Unlike in the IOS world, the Android market is so saturated with devices, you may not know how your app (camera feature for example) will behave on a Tecno phone.

Indeed. With Android my biggest problem is devices behave differently and even just changing Andriid APIs discover issues.

Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#34

Post by narenkmano »

tpmx wrote: post #31

Seems very well executed. Congrats! When I last had a need for something like this confidentiality was a major concern (it was at a small-ish but publicly traded company). Not quite at the level of needing signed contracts, but at the same time something more than a random web service someone unnamed threw together would be required. I notice that you haven't put your names and backgrounds on the site - that would he…

You can check out our security practices here - https://www.wolfia.com/security

Agreed with building credibility. We'll add our names and backgrounds along with the YC backing on our website soon.

Also, we plan to support an on-premises option in the future.

Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#35

Post by bluelightning2k »

What a brilliant idea. Well done! Must have taken some real tech muscle too.

FYI: the first thing I did was click your demo app and try to read this article. I couldn't. Maybe this is because of your launch traffic spike but you should know.

Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#36

Post by narenkmano »

bluelightning2k wrote: post #35

What a brilliant idea. Well done! Must have taken some real tech muscle too. FYI: the first thing I did was click your demo app and try to read this article. I couldn't. Maybe this is because of your launch traffic spike but you should know.

Thank you! You should be able to try it out now. If you can't still, pm me at naren@wolfia.com

Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#37

Post by 6figurelenins »

fabiendevos wrote: post #27
6figurelenins wrote: post #22

> mobile app developers are stuck with pushing builds every night and waiting a day for the team to see the new code That doesn't ring true. TestFlight / Play Store uploads are typically available within 15 minutes. Still, it's nice you're solving deployment overhead. In particular, my team needs side-by-side installs of the live/prod build and dev/staging build. It's double the headache to stand up a store listing a…

Totally true that TestFlight / Play Store uploads are available within 15 min, but in our experience, nobody wants to push to those platform that frequently, and force many upgrades of the app every day, so instead they do nightly builds at best. More importantly, it doesn't help if people don't have the right phone. We would love to help you with this use case, does an emulator in the browser works for you or do you…

For me, an emulator solves the 80% case: I'm soliciting quick feedback on specific changes. I'd happily use one as TestFlight for dev builds. I'm optimistic my users (my team) would find it more convenient, less interruptive. I'll ask them.

The other 20% is stuff that doesn't work in an emulator. Usually Apple, certificates.

It's enough of a minefield that QA means real devices, unfortunately. Used phones are vastly cheaper than "false alarm" bug reports.

> in our experience, nobody wants to push to those platform that frequently, and force many upgrades of the app every day, so instead they do nightly builds at best

If my team's big enough for daily builds, we have continuous deployment (Fastlane or similar). Strictly speaking, the pain is the build step (slow; can be flaky), not pushing the artifact.

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to dig deeper, I'll keep an eye on this thread.

Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#38

Post by fudged71 »

narenkmano wrote: post #26
liminalsunset wrote: post #24

Underrated use cases (which I hopefully don't ruin by saying out loud): -Share a browser session; someone can log in and let someone else do stuff without having to share their password. -Burner phone to install garbage, or untrusted apps on that "you only need once" or that you just need to use to screenshot a coupon etc. -Burner phone to access Facebook or TikTok with, with no private data risk -US IP address to ge…

Those are some great use cases! We already support the sharing sessions with multiple users. You can tap on the copy link to share control button on the bottom right of the emulator page and send it to someone to share your session :)

This would be fantastic for executive assistants

Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#39

Post by fabiendevos »

fudged71 wrote: post #38
narenkmano wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are some great use cases! We already support the sharing sessions with multiple users. You can tap on the copy link to share control button on the bottom right of the emulator page and send it to someone to share your session :)

This would be fantastic for executive assistants

Interesting, what use case do you have in mind for EAs?

Re: Launch HN: Wolfia (YC S22) – A mobile app emulator you can share with a link

#40

Post by fabiendevos »

dfgwt wrote: post #21
fabiendevos wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it works on mobile but is a bit slower, we want to continue to improve performance there. It's reasonable on a Pixel 6 pro, I'm curious which phone are you using? We'll look into the ping time.

It's a Samsung Galaxy A52s, I tried Firefox and Chrome. Also used a TCP ping app to check what seems to be the demo server - node1.wolfia.com? Average was around 160ms, ranging from 70 to 300ish, so I guess that was the real issue! I'm located in UK and using a 4G network. Might try it again tomorrow from work and see how it compares.

Ah yeah that's probably why, our servers are only on the west coast for now, we'll add more locations in the future.
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